TheStreet.com to cancel Fox TV show

CBS.MarketWatch.com

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- TheStreet.com late Wednesday said it would stick to a decision to cancel its show on the Fox News channel despite a claim by Fox that the Internet company has "no contractual right" to shutter the weekly show before next year.

TheStreet said it's pulling the show partly because it objected to comments that a Fox spokesman made in the wake of columnist James J. Cramer's appearance on the show last month, where Cramer -- TheStreet's largest shareholder and founder -- called TheStreet's
tscm
stock a "good buy."

TheStreet listed "limited reach, breach of contract and disparagement of the company and its brand" as the reasons for its decision to back out of the show, which was launched in July last year.

As of late Wednesday, it appeared that TheStreet's panelists will be taping the show on Friday, as usual. "We have always been for an orderly shutdown for the show and if that involves a taping on Friday, we'll be there," said Cathy Fetell, a spokeswoman for the company.

She said she couldn't give a timetable for the show's future run. Fox made it clear that it expects the show to run its contracted course. TheStreet has "no contractual right to cancel the television show... prior to May 7, 2001," a statement read. "Fox News fully expects the regular weekly taping of the program to go forward on Friday evening."

Part of the decision to abandon the show stems from an April 26 article in the New York Daily News, said Fetell. TheStreet informed Fox News of its decision on Wednesday.

The article suggested that Fox was working to replace Cramer as a panelist on the show and that Fox felt Cramer violated Fox protocol by not telling the producer what stocks he'd be talking about.

"Despite offering full disclosure of his ownership position, we do not approve of the touting of stock for personal gain on the air," an unnamed Fox spokesman was quoted as telling the Daily News.

Fetell said the Daily News article underlines what TheStreet.com considers "a breach of contract, a clear disparagement of TheStreet.com."

Fox dismissed the charges. "The simple truth is that Mr. Cramer touted TheStreet.com stock in an inappropriate manner on the television program.

"TheStreet.com has made unfounded assertions and has put forth the unfathomable claim that a published newspaper article permits Mr. Cramer and TheStreet.com to walk away from his and its obligations under two separate contracts both of which run until at least September 2002 and May 2001 respectively," the Fox statement said.

Fox added that it was "reviewing its legal options" against Cramer and the company.According to Fox, the show drew 92,000 households at its 6 p.m. Saturday broadcast last week.

TheStreet's stock rose 7/8, or 12 percent, to 7 15/16 on Wednesday.

Broaden horizons

TheStreet also felt its association with Fox hampered the Internet company's efforts to give its writers and columnists a wider TV and public speaking platform for competitive reasons, Fetell said. Cramer used to be a frequent guest on cable news channel CNBC until roughly around the time the Fox show launched.

Fetell declined to comment on ratings trends for "TheStreet.com" show. "It hasn't been relevant to our thinking," she said. TheStreet's now looking for alternatives that run across all media platforms; they recently bought a conference show company.

Links between the TheStreet and Fox go back to TheStreet's IPO on May 11, 1999. At the time, Fox bought $7.5 million worth of TheStreet.com stock in the IPO at the offering price of $19. Fox currently holds a 1.6 percent ownership stake in TheStreet. The New York Times Co.
NYT, +1.08%
is also a significant shareholder.

"We had hoped to build a broad global audience through a deeper relationship with News Corp. ... but in spite of our best efforts ... News Corp. did not show an interest in such an expansion," TheStreet CEO Thomas Clarke said in a statement.

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